sundownr Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Here is a pix of my new robot meteorite hunter.What you see is a 12 volt steering actuator and a gray electronics box.This ATV can be controlled from a hand held dongle or use an on-board GPS module to navigate point-to-point.I have been testing this robot and it works great so long the terrain is smooth (dry lake beds). The ATV, a 250, is too light to handle rough terrain.I am developing software to run a grid so I can pull a large coil over a lot of ground. Note the on-board computer logs targets (gps co-ordinates) for later investigation.Anyway this what you do when you get old and have a lot of free time sundownr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Looks like a real fun project keep us informed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nugget Shooter Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Curious as well..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundownr Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 I will add some more updates in coming days.Here is a pix of my coil under construction. It is 44" long and 21" wide with 14 turns of #20 wire. The base is 1/4" plywood.I need to cover the copper wire with fiber cloth and resin and try to make it all indestructible... any suggestions would be great.This is the coil I hook up to a PI detector and pull with the robot ATV.sundownr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean (N.M.) Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Very interesting. Looks like you have put many hours into your project. It sure looks like it will be very successful when it is up and running. Be sure and post a video of everything in action when you are finished. What detector are you using with you homemade coil?Good luck!Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundownr Posted October 22, 2010 Author Share Posted October 22, 2010 DeanHere is the link for the PI detector ====> http://www3.telus.ne...Metal/Metal.htmI am heading for Willard, New Mexico on Tuesday and will try to get some pixs.sundownr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean (N.M.) Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 Sundownr,Interesting link, thanks. have you tested your unit with a smaller coil? Curious how it worked out. Maybe you can fill us in on what you have tested or found and how deep. How were the signals on different items found, how deep, size, etc? Good luck in Willard. I hope you make some nice finds and have a good day of testing your new robot meteorite hunter. Stay safe. See you out in the field.Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundownr Posted October 26, 2010 Author Share Posted October 26, 2010 Dean I never made it to Williard, New Mexico... the weather (snow and wind) turned rather gruesome over the past several days. To answer your questions as best I can… first note my coil (44" x 21") is nothing special. I can see an iron hammer head at about 30" which is not particularly great but I do not consider this a problem. At my age digging deep holes is a major task so I intentionally limit the depth of targets. Note the width of the coil is an advantage particularly because I pull the coil behind an ATV and therefore can cover more ground with a wider coil. I could have made the coil even wider but had to consider storage considerations in my F150 pickup. Here are links to some of the hardware I used in constructing the GPS guidance package…8" Linear Actuator ====è http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item53e1fa17c6Computer Control ====è http://www.sparkfun....products_id=666GPS Receiver ====è http://www.sparkfun....products_id=465Motor Controller ====è http://www.sparkfun....roducts_id=9815 I do not recommend getting into GPS guidance control without first having the necessary expertise. I believe this idea has some merit in that several ATV's equipped with PI detectors and large coils (forget about GPS guidance) could cover some major ground in a week-end... and with some luck make some major meteorite finds. The trick, as I see it, is the ability to survey a lot of ground in a short amount of time.Last but not least is the fact that dragging a large detector coil with an ATV's requires relatively smooth terrain with a minimal amount of obstacles.Hope this answers some of your questions. Have a great day and good hunting.sundownr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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